Meeting on supporting Murray Hotel DPO is today

The Southwest New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce will sponsor an informational meeting at 5:30 p.m. today to discuss plans for a Direct Public Offering of the Murray Hotel in Silver City.(Photo: Randal Seyler/Sun-News)Buy Photo

SILVER CITY - The Southwest New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce will sponsor an informational meeting at 5:30 p.m. today to discuss plans for a Direct Public Offering of the Murray Hotel in Silver City. The meeting will be held at the Murray Hotel in the Martha Room.

The sale of equity in a business to raise capital can be complex and unwieldy, but the Direct Public Offering is much more small business friendly, according to a release from the Green Chamber. The DPO is authorized by the federal Securities Exchange Commission.

“There’s no question that one of the best and surest ways to promote the health of our local economy is to invest locally,” stated the news release. “In a time when more and more local businesses are being displaced by regional and national chains and franchises, it’s not as easy to make a statement with our shopping habits as it used to be, and conventional investment vehicles, while intended to be easy and safe, are often run by companies that have little interest in the economic health or quality of life in a small community like ours.”

The Murray Hotel has been restored into an Art Deco landmark and functioning downtown business. The restoration has been carried out using Green building materials, local labor, and energy-efficient systems, and the owners who have accomplished this monumental task have always been thoroughly committed to the belief that not only does this remarkable piece of Silver City history deserve to be restored in its own right, but also that as a business it can make a vital contribution to the economic health and social rejuvenation of our Historic Downtown business district, according to the release.

“The Murray Hotel has always intended to be a community-owned enterprise, to help put local money to work at a local level, and to be able to spread the benefits of its success within the community,” the release states. “For the last six months, the Murray’s operating members have been working on a version of crowdfunding known as the Direct Public Offering. The idea and purpose behind making a DPO as opposed to a Wall Street-type of offering is that if the ownership of the business is local and broadly shared, then the profits will circulate in the community.”

Other benefits to the DPO include strengthening our sense of community, and as the business grows and succeeds, the ripple effect of the financial benefit to other local businesses, and of raising the profile of Silver City as a great place to visit, the release states.

The DPO will be offered for a limited time, and proceeds will be used to complete restorations and additions that will increase the Murray’s revenues. They will include a kitchen that can serve meals and cater events at the hotel, finishing work on the first floor, and completion of meeting rooms, a restaurant, and additional guest rooms that will provide greater capacity for conventions.